January 20th in History

The Palace of Westminster, seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Photo: Javier Otero, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today in History

  • The first English parliament to include representatives of major towns rather than just lords meets in the Palace of Westminster, commonly called the Houses of Parliament (1265)
  • The main part of the First Fleet reaches Botany Bay, Australia (1788)
  • Hong Kong island is occupied by the British (1841)
  • The US Navy is authorized to lease Pearl Harbor as a base (1887)
  • The ACLU is founded (1920)
  • Edward VIII becomes king of the United Kingdom (1936)
  • The Wannsee Conference plans the “final solution to the Jewish question” (1942)
  • The National Negro Radio Network is established (1954)
  • Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program (1972)
  • Iran releases 52 American hostages (1981)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is celebrated as a US federal holiday for the first time (1986)

The US Presidential Inauguration Day is held every four years in odd-numbered years on January 20 unless it is a Sunday. The following US Presidents took office on January 20:

  • 1937 — Franklin D. Roosevelt (second term)
  • 1949 — Harry S. Truman
  • 1953 — Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • 1961 — John F. Kennedy
  • 1981 — Ronald Reagan
  • 2001 — George W. Bush
  • 2009 — Barack Obama
  • 2017 — Donald Trump

Birthdays

  • Harold Gray, cartoonist who created Little Orphan Annie (1894)
  • George Burns, comedian and actor (1896)
  • Colin Clive, actor (1900)
  • Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate (1906)
  • Joy Adamson, author of Born Free (1910)
  • Federico Fellini, filmmaker (1920)
  • DeForest Kelley, actor (1920)
  • Slim Whitman, country musician (1923)
  • Patricia Neal, actress (1926)
  • Arte Johnson, actor and comedian (1929)
  • Buzz Aldrin, astronaut (1930)
  • Tom Baker, played the Fourth Doctor (1934)
  • Dorothy Provine, actress, singer, and dancer (1935)
  • David Lynch, filmmaker (1946)
  • Paul Stanley, member of Kiss (1952)
  • Bill Maher, comedian and political commentator (1956)
  • Lorenzo Lamas, actor (1958)
  • Rainn Wilson, actor (1966)

Deaths

  • David Garrick, actor and theater manager (1779)
  • George V, monarch of the UK (1936)
  • Johnny Weissmuller, swimmer and actor (1984)
  • Barbara Stanwyck, actress (1990)
  • Audrey Hepburn, actress (1993)
  • Al Herschfeld, illustrator (2003)
  • Etta James, singer-songwriter (2012)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Armed Forces Day (Mali)
  • Army Day (Laos)
  • Heroes’ Day (Cape Verde)
  • Martyr’s Day (Azerbaijan)

January 20 is the 20th day of the year. There are 345 days (346 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.